Life Between Death and Rebirth

Schmidt Number: S-2640

On-line since: 27th October, 2004

II

Investigations Into Life Between Death and Rebirth

Milan, October 27, 1912

Our
considerations have led us to the point where consciousness after
death can only be maintained by remembering the Mystery of Golgotha.
Until this moment existence after death consists of recollections of
life on earth by means of visions, not through the senses. During
this period also, the realities of the spiritual world can only be
perceived through visions.

Gradually the soul finds it more and more difficult to retain the
memories of earthly life and a condition of forgetting sets in. If
after death one meets a person one has known, one will at first
readily recognize him. As time goes on this becomes more difficult,
and later the connection can only be recalled by relating oneself to
the Mystery of Golgotha. The more one is permeated by it, the easier
it is to recognize one's surroundings. On reaching the stage
where the recollections of the Mystery of Golgotha is needed in order
to maintain consciousness, however, a great transformation begins. We
are then no longer able to hold the previous visions. For example,
until this phase we can speak in terms of astral color phenomena in
this realm and of the visionary images of beings surrounding us.
Midway between death and a new birth visions and recollections fall
away, we lose our connection with them, and they separate themselves
off from our being. To characterize this phase more accurately let us
consider the following, which upon first hearing might be quite
shocking.

At this stage one feels oneself drawing away from the earth. The
earth is far away below one, and journeying into the spirit world one
feels that one has reached the Sun. Just as during earthly life we
feel ourselves linked to the earth, so now we feel at one with the
Sun with its whole planetary system. That is why in our modern
occultism such stress is laid upon understanding how Christ came to
earth from the Sun sphere. It is essential to grasp how Christ leads
us to the Sun through the Mystery of Golgotha. Occultism shows that
Christ is a Sun Being who can lead us back to the Sun. Now comes what
may cause a shock. It is imperative not only to understand our
relationship to the Christ. We must grasp something further. The time
now comes that we confront, and need to understand, the being known
as Lucifer. The sensation in the Sun is not one of being surrounded
by streaming physical light, but of dwelling in the pure light of the
spirit. From this moment onward, one experiences Lucifer no longer as
an antagonistic being. On the contrary, he appears more and more to
be fully justified in the world. One now senses the urge, in the
further course of the life after death, to recognize Christ and
Lucifer side by side as equally justifiable powers. However strange
the equal importance of Christ and Lucifer may appear, this insight
is reached from this stage onward and one comes to see these two
powers more or less as brothers. The explanation for this is to be
sought in experiences that the soul has to undergo in the further
course of life after death.

I have often described the conditions of life on Saturn, Sun and
Moon, and in them you have the spiritual path covered after death.
The remarkable thing is that one does not experience the events in
the order of cosmic creation: Saturn, Sun and Moon, but first comes
the Moon-existence, then the Sun-existence, and finally the
Saturn-existence. When you read the descriptions I have given in
Cosmic Memory
and then proceed farther back from the Moon, you
will find the realm that the soul experiences on its backward journey
after death. Beholding this directly in the spiritual world gives the
impression of a recollection of life before birth. In the realm just
characterized the moral element is of even greater importance for the
further course of life. In
Cosmic Memory,
the “Akasha
Chronicle,” we described how one loses interest, which up to
this stage was very strong, in all earthly experience. Our interest
in men with whom we have been connected wanes, and we lose interest
in things. We realize that the recollections we still have at this
point are carried forward only by the Christ. Christ accompanies us,
and as a result we are capable of remembering. If Christ were not to
accompany us, our recollection of earthly life would vanish because
it is the experience of uniting ourselves with Christ that beyond
this point connects us with the earth.

So through a further stage in the spiritual world we gain a totally
new interest in Lucifer and his realm. Severed from earthly
interests, we can now experience the confrontation of Lucifer
absolutely without danger. We make the remarkable discovery that
Lucifer's influence is harmful to us only when we are entangled
in earthly affairs. He now appears as the being who illumines what we
have to undergo later in the world of the spirit. For a long span of
time we feel that we must acquire what Lucifer can bestow upon us in
these realms of the spirit world.

Again it may be a shock to speak of what is experienced only
subjectively. Yet what appears shocking is perhaps in this case the
most readily understandable, namely, that after awhile we become
inhabitants of Mars. After we have felt ourselves to be Sun dwellers,
having left the earth behind us, we now leave the Sun sphere and
experience ourselves in our cosmic reality as inhabitants of Mars. In
fact, for this phase it appears as if Christ had given us everything
relating to the past and that Lucifer prepares us for our future
incarnation. If this Mars sphere is experienced consciously and later
on earth can be recalled by means of initiation, we discover that
Lucifer bestows on us all experiences not originating in the earthly
sphere that we carry within us through the width of the cosmos.
Lucifer gives us everything unrelated to the earth. Our former human
interest becomes more and more cosmic. Whereas previously we absorbed
on earth what the mineral, the plant, the animal, air and water,
mountain and valley gave us, we gather from this point onward the
experiences that reach us from the cosmos. It is a form of perception
that has always been known, but little understood, as the harmony of
the spheres. We perceive everything as harmonies rather than the
separate sounds of the physical world.

At a certain point we experience ourselves as at the center of the
universe. From all sides we perceive the cosmic facts through the
harmony of the spheres. We now leave the realm of Mars, and the
occultist denotes the next sphere as Jupiter. As we proceed the
harmony of the spheres increases in volume. Finally it is so powerful
that we are numbed by it. Stupefied, we lift into the harmony of the
spheres.

After we have gone through the Jupiter sphere our existence reaches
Saturn, the outermost limit of the solar system. At this juncture we
undergo an important experience of a moral nature. If Christ has
preserved our memory of earlier conditions on earth and protected us
from the states of fear arising out of a waning consciousness, we
realize, particularly in our present soul configuration, how little
our life on earth was attuned to higher moral demands, to the majesty
of the entire cosmic existence. Our past earthly life rises up
reproachfully. Out of an undifferentiated darkness, and this is of
the greatest importance, the sum total of the last incarnation as it
formed itself karmically during that life, appears before the soul.

In fact, the overall picture of your present incarnation corresponds
to what now arises in your soul at this state after death, but
everything you have to object to in your own last incarnation is
poignantly experienced. We behold our last earthy life from a cosmic
viewpoint.

From this time onward neither the Christ principle nor Lucifer can
maintain our consciousness. Unless an initiation took place in a
previous earth life, consciousness is definitely dimmed. It marks a
necessary spiritual sleep-like condition following the consciousness
that prevailed until then. This spiritual sleep is connected with
another factor. Because all feelings and the capacity to form ideas
have ceased, the total cosmic forces, with the exception of those
emanating from the solar system, can now act directly upon man.
Imagine the whole of the solar system out of action and only the
forces outside it working. This will give you a picture of the
influences that now begin to be operative.

Thus we have reached the point where we began our consideration
yesterday.

Let us now consider the important relationship between the second
phase of life after death and the embryonic period. You know that
embryonic life begins with a small spherical germ. Occultly, we make
the remarkable observation that in its earliest stages the embryo
represents a mirror-picture of all the human being experiences out of
the cosmos. This has been described above. At the outset the human
germ carries a mirror-picture of cosmic existence from which its life
in the solar system is excluded. It is remarkable that during the
further stages of embryonic development all cosmic influences are
rejected except those emanating from the solar system. These are
absorbed by the embryo. Hereditary forces commence their activity on
the embryo at a comparatively later stage when, during life after
death, we have retraced our steps via Saturn, Jupiter and Mars.
Therefore it may be said that the germ is already prepared by man
during cosmic existence in a condition of universal sleep and before
the embryonic period.

Let us now consider the stages in embryonic development that take
place during the period of cosmic, universal sleep. In the diagram
let us indicate one after another the prenatal conditions of the
human being of the germ. Here we have a mirror image.

Mirror Germ Birth

Conception

early late early late

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . .

Then the later embryonic conditions find their mirror-image in the
early phase of prenatal life, and the early conditions of embryonic
existence find their reflection in a later phase before conception.
So we obtain a spiritual mirror-picture in reverse of embryonic
development. Here is the embryo in the one direction, and for each
phase in the one direction I find a mirror-image in the other. The
two sides are related as object and mirror-image, and conception
marks the point at which the mirror-images arise. If I were to
represent embryonic development now, it would have to be drawn small.
But its mirror-picture in the other direction would have to be much
enlarged because what the human being undergoes in ten lunar months
before birth is experienced in its reflection in a matter of years.
Now take all that man experiences in the spiritual world until his
reincarnation. In the first phase of his life after death he takes
into himself the after-effects of his life on earth. During the
second stage he gathers experiences out of the cosmos.

Life between death and a new birth is full of content, but one thing
is missing. We do in fact recapitulate everything we have experienced
from the previous incarnation until the present one. We sense cosmic
being, but during the first stage of life after death we do not
experience what has happened on the earth between the two
incarnations. Until we reach the Sun sphere we are so preoccupied
with our memories of life before death that our interest in events on
the earth is completely diverted. We live with those individuals who
also are dwelling in the spiritual world after death. We are fully
involved in the relationships that we have with them on earth and
shape these connections to fit their ultimate consequences. During
this period our interest is continually diverted and thereby lessened
for those who are still on the earth. Only when those who remain on
earth seek us with their souls can a link with them be created. This
should be considered an important moral element that throws light
upon the connection between the living and the dead. A person who has
died before us and whom we completely forget, finds it difficult to
reach us here in earthly life. The love, the constant sympathy we
feel for the dead, creates a path on which a connection with earthly
life is established. During the early stages after death those who
have passed on can live with us only out of this connection. It is
surprising to what extent the cult of the commemoration of the dead
is confirmed in its deeper significance by occultism. Those who have
passed on can reach us most easily if they can find thoughts and
feelings directed toward them from the earth.

The situation is different for the second stage between death and a
new birth. We are then so deeply involved in cosmic interests that it
becomes exceedingly difficult to establish a connection with the
earth during this second period. Apart from the interest we take in
the cosmos, we wish to cooperate in the right shaping of our further
karma. In addition to our cosmic impressions we retain best what we
have to correct karmically, and we help to shape a next life that
will help to compensate for the karmic debts incurred.

Many people say that they cannot believe in reincarnation because
they do not wish to return to a life on earth. This, for instance, is
a current objection. I do not wish in the least to come back to the
earth. Many say this. The above consideration regarding the period
between death and rebirth corrects this view. During this period we
want to return to life with all our strength in order to correct our
karma. We forget all too easily after the cosmic sleep described,
when we awaken into the present, that we actually want to
reincarnate. It is immaterial whether it is our wish during life on
earth to incarnate again. What matters is that we will it in the
period between death and rebirth, and there we positively do. In many
respects life between death and rebirth is the very opposite of what
we experience here on earth between birth and death. Just as we are
strengthened through sleep in earthly life and endowed with new
forces, so as a result of the described cosmic sleep are we equipped
with forces for our new incarnation.

Another question can be answered by these considerations. It is often
asked, “If he incarnates so frequently, why must the human
being begin over and over from infancy? Why does he not come into the
world already equipped with everything he has to learn during
childhood?” The answer lies in the fact that we do not
experience what has happened on earth between our incarnations. For
example, if a person was last incarnated on earth prior to the
discovery of printing and incarnates again today, he will not have
experienced what has developed in the intervening period. In fact, if
one investigates the matter more closely from a cultural-historical
aspect, one will find that in each incarnation one has to learn as a
child what has happened on the earth in the intervening period.
Consider, for instance, what a child of six had to learn in Roman
times. That was quite different from what he has to learn today. The
time span between two incarnations corresponds to the period needed
for the cultural life on earth to have changed completely. We do not
return to an incarnation until the conditions on the earth have
changed so that there is virtually no similarity to the conditions of
our previous incarnation.

What I have described refers to the average person. For example, in
one case consciousness after death might be dimmed earlier than in
another, or the condition of sleep might set in more quickly, as you
will have understood from what was said previously. But a cosmic law
operates so that the cosmic sleep shortens the period that we spend in
the spiritual world after death. The one who enters the condition of
unconsciousness earlier experiences it more rapidly. Time passes at a
quicker rate for him than for one whose consciousness extends
farther. Investigations of life between death and rebirth do indeed
reveal that unspiritual people reincarnate relatively more quickly
than others. A person who only indulges in sensual pleasures and
passions, who lives strongly in what we might call his animal nature,
will spend but a short time between incarnations. This is due to the
fact that such a person will fall comparatively rapidly into a
condition of unconsciousness, of sleep. Hence he will travel quickly
between the period of death and rebirth.

Moreover, I have only described an average case because I have
specially considered people who reach a normal age in life.
Fundamentally, there is a considerable difference between souls who
die after their thirty-fifth year and those who die earlier. Only
those who have reached their thirty-fifth year experience more or
less consciously the various phases described. An early death brings
about a more rapid condition of sleep between death and rebirth. It
might be objected that, after all, one cannot be responsible for an
early death and therefore one is innocently involved in an earlier
cosmic sleep. Yet this objection is not valid. It is not so because
an early death has been prepared as a result of previous karmic
causes, and further development can take place just because the soul
enters more rapidly into the cosmic realm. However strange and
shocking this may appear, we know, as a result of objective
investigations of cosmic existence, that man from a certain point
onwards expands into the cosmos and receives the impressions of the
cosmos, of the macrocosmos. Just as man is most deeply involved in
earthly matters during the middle years of his physical life, so in
the middle period between death and rebirth he is most deeply
involved in the cosmos.

Let us consider the child. As yet he does not live fully on the
earth. He lives with all the inheritance from earlier periods, and he
has to establish himself in earthly existence. Now consider the life
of man after death. He lives with what he has carried away from the
earth, and he has to acquire the perceptive faculties for life in the
cosmos. In the middle period of our earthly existence we are most
deeply entangled in earthly conditions, whereas in the middle stage
between death and rebirth we are most deeply involved in cosmic
conditions. The nearer we draw to the end of our existence on earth,
the more we withdraw from earthly conditions in a physical sense. The
farther we have gone beyond the mid-point between death and a new
birth, the more we withdraw from the cosmos and turn again to the
life on earth.

What I have just described as an analogy is not the basis of
spiritual scientific investigations. An analogy of this kind occurs
to an occultist only after he has made the necessary occult
investigations and proceeds to compare the facts available. Such an
analogy also contains an error. Suppose we referred to the first
period after death as that of childhood, and the second period as
that of old age. We would make a mistake. During spirit-existence
between death a new birth we are in fact old to begin with, and we
become children in relation to the spiritual life during the second
period. Spiritual life flows in the reverse order. To begin with, we
carry the errors and shortcomings of earthly life into the spiritual
world. Then gradually during the cosmic existence they are removed.

I was most surprised to find in ancient traditions not exactly a
confirmation, but an indication regarding these facts. On earth
during our physical existence we speak of getting old. In the
spiritual world between death and rebirth we must say quite literally
that we grow young. In fact, as far as his spirit-being is concerned,
when someone is born in a particular place we can say that he became
young there.

Now strangely enough, in the second part of Faust we find the
words, “He became young in the Land of the Mists.” Why
does Goethe make use of the expression, “to become young”
in order to express physical birth? When we go back into the past we
find that a tradition prevailed in humanity that expresses the idea
that at spiritual birth one becomes young. In fact, the more we look
into past evolution, the more we encounter conditions of
clairvoyance, as is continually stressed in our occultism. We find
confirmation of them everywhere.

Consider, for instance, what was mentioned yesterday. From the moment
of death we gradually free ourselves from earthly conditions, but
during life between death and rebirth we live fully within cosmic
conditions. These we experience as visions; they appear instead of
sense impressions. I explained how the light of the Hierarchies falls
on what we experience. We can characterize this situation as follows.
Imagine that you did not have your consciousness inside you,
but outside in your surroundings. You would not have the feeling that
you were living in your body, but outside it. From outside you would
feel that that is my eye, my nose, my leg. Then you would have to
refer what you experience outside in the spirit to yourself. You
would also have to refer the being of God to yourself, to let it be
reflected in you. Such a stage arises after death when gazing back on
man. The surroundings are reflected in him, even the Godhead.

Would it be too daring to accept the statement of a poet who said
that life after death is the reflection of the divine? It is well
known that Dante said that during one's existence in the
spiritual world a point comes where one beholds the divine as man.
Such an indication may appear unjustified. It may even seem playful,
but one who is able to look into the deeper secrets of humanity will
not take this view. In great poets we find again and again echoes of
former conditions of clairvoyant knowledge, and by means of
initiation such after-effects are revivified and lifted to human
consciousness.

I have given you a few results of recent research into the conditions
of life between death and a new birth, and I hope there will be
another opportunity in the not too distant future to speak further on
this theme.